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Technoscience and citizenship : ethics and governance in the digital society
Delgado A., Springer International Publishing, New York, NY, 2017. 189 pp. Type: Book (978-3-319324-12-8)
Date Reviewed: Aug 24 2017

This volume--edited by Ana Delgado, who also contributed selections to the work--is a follow-up effort from the TECHNOLIFE project that took place in Barcelona, in 2010. The goal of TECHNOLIFE, as funded by the European Commission, was to consider an updated and alternative ethical framework for emerging technologies. The focus was on digital technologies and everyday users since the tools are decentralized, innovative, and adapted by citizens. This subsequent book from that project is accessible to a broad audience to accommodate the general audience that participated in TECHNOLIFE, and also combines a moderate academic style for a more specialized educational audience. Nonetheless, it is an avowedly experimental collective attempt that hints at a different kind of politics, but in this volume neither the new politics nor the alternative ethical framework is defined.

The work is divided into four parts; I will focus on selective exemplary papers in order to provide a flavor of and an evaluation of the volume as a whole. Two main themes emerge from the various offerings: according to the contributors, novel methods of engagement in these emerging technologies may produce alternative ethical frameworks; in addition, institutional governance may not be capable of maintaining its regulation over citizens. Social networking with platforms such as Facebook and Twitter circumvents politicians.

In Part 1, Roger Strand and Silvio Funtowicz lament the EU’s emphasis on science and economics and instead favor democratic inclusion. Likewise, according to Kim Sune Jepson, Ana Delgado, and Thora Margareta Bertilsson, in the second selection in Part 1, the public specter arises in response to technology that threatens everyday life.

Søren Holm is representative of Part 2, which addresses governing the human body and mind. Holm argues that public engagement should guide modification of the body and not science.

Part 3 is the highlight of the volume in that it is the most applicable for many readers and is relevant not only for the EU but for other nations as well. Kristrún Gunnarsdóttir argues that executive powers are unchecked by the legislature and the judiciary; in particular, the fifth freedom--data movement--is imperiled. Any political opposition or activism, even if non-terrorist, can be targeted. Katrin Lass-Mikko and Margit Sutrop argue that violations of privacy threaten the basis of democracy. Kjetil Rommetveit points out that a “biometrics vision” arises from the surveillance state.

Finally, Part 4 focuses on how geo-engineering requires a professional response to the redefinition of space by technological advances. The authors maintain that since geo-engineering and digital maps reconfigure space, ordinary citizens have little input in debates about geo-engineering or climate change.

Evaluating the volume leads to several important points. Historically, a claim of science is that it produces valueless facts. In point of contrast, science as co-opted by the state is an arm of the state; as such, it is not the expression of pure facts and valueless ideology. Both nature and society are the passive objects to be manipulated as part of the idealized progressive utopia.

The fact that science is not value-free is evidenced in Europe by a faith in technological solutions, which is favored by the EU as the key to coping with an aging population, energy independence, and climate change. In particular, technological governance requires control over society to stimulate perceived needs.

The TECHNOLIFE participants were wary of state control and how technology negatively impacted their lives. People perceived that mass media and the state promised improvement, but institutions were not seen as capable of coping with drastic transformations. The multiple criticisms of monopolies and capitalism could encourage a newfound freedom, but government and corporations limited their freedom; in addition, people were further alienated by the state bureaucracies as irrelevant and time-bound institutions.

As the editor fittingly concludes, “the main challenge is for institutions to respond to a real state of affairs and to address emerging technologies not only as a tool to cope with societal changes but also as embedded within the constellations of socio-political relations, posing new societal challenges as they emerge” (p. 189).

In this particular volume, neither the politics nor the alternative ethics are demonstrated. With the best of intentions, the academics here address the issues well, but do not answer the political and ethical concerns of the TECHNOLIFE participants.

As a result, one fruitful area to extend the conversation started in this volume is to define emerging political institutions and ethical choices in the digital society. I anticipate lively debate and more work along these lines. Interested readers can also consult related volumes [1,2].

Reviewer:  G. Mick Smith Review #: CR145502 (1711-0727)
1) Michael, M. Technoscience and everyday life. Open University Press, New York, NY, 2006.
2) Kleiman, D. L. Science and technology in society. John Wiley & Sons, New York, NY, 2009.
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